The Lord Mayor's Show

The Kingdom of Sweden

On 10 November 2012, the annual Lord Mayor’s Show will celebrate the City of London by marking the official start of the new Lord Mayor’s term. Roger Gifford was elected on 1 October and is UK manager of the Swedish bank SEB. He has a long-standing relationship with Sweden and has contributed much to the expansion of Swedish businesses in the United Kingdom. In support of Roger’s initiatives, the Swedish representative organisations in the UK (Anglo-Swedish Society, Embassy of Sweden, Swedish Trade Council, Swedish Church, Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Swedish School and VisitSweden) will be organising a Swedish float entitled ‘The Kingdom of Sweden’.

As the world’s oldest civic procession, almost 6,000 participants from different businesses, livery companies, Her Majesty’s Forces, the City Police, charities, as well as London residents partake each year along the three-mile route where the procession follows.

This year, among the various and remarkable floats, one will find 25 marching bands, 300 horses, 18 vintage cars, 21 carriages, an original American stagecoach, a Japanese Taiko drum band and several surprises. The procession fills the entire space between Bank and Aldwych from 11am until 2.30pm, witnessed by a crowd of approximately half a million people and watched live on the BBC by millions more.

The Kingdom of Sweden float will be the fifth float in the procession and will represent some key Swedish business and lifestyle values – innovation, openness, care and authenticity. These values are believed to form the progressive lifestyle that many Swedish consumer brands stand for.

The Swedish architect, Alexander Malmaeus, who is the director and owner of AM Visualisations, has designed a float concept based on a Swedish wintery landscape which will mirror these values. The centre-piece of the float will feature a one tonne block of ice from the Torne River in Sweden, located 200km north of the Arctic Circle.

It will be prepared by the ICEHOTEL with three gold crowns carved in the centre. The block will be transported from the Arctic in a refrigerated container and delivered to the float the day before the Show. Following the block of ice will be 30 children from the Swedish School in London, carrying a representation of the Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis).

The Lord Mayor’s Show is one of London’s oldest traditions and has been growing since 1186. The Lord Mayor is elected as the mayor of the City of London. This role is separate from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who heads the greater London authority.Sponsors include: Clas Ohlson, Electrolux, ICEHOTEL, SAAB, Scandinavian Airlines and Scania.